For beer folks, Chico, CA, and New Glarus, WI, are must-see capitals on the U.S. brewing map, but getting between the two is no simple feat. There and Back is named for the planes, trains, and zeal needed to connect them. This classic English-style Bitter is a complex yet easy-drinking mix of toasty malt and a fruity, herbal hop flavor.

New Glarus is fiercely loyal to its home state, growing to one of the largest breweries in the U.S. without selling a single drop outside of the borders of Wisconsin. With those local tastes in mind, New Glarus has perfected traditional German styles and invented masterful versions of complex and intense fruit beers featuring Wisconsin-grown ingredients.

Reviews by AgentMunky:

T: Welp. Tastes a lot like an English cask bitter. Smooth, sweet, flat...but wait! The aftertaste is superb. Lightly bitter, caramelized sugar, a mite sticky but also hoppy. Still not enough to redeem a lackluster maintaste.

M: Kind of watery.

O: Good example of the style, but not my vote for an excellent beer. Wouldn't have again, though perhaps it's better not on cask.

Notes: "For beer folks, Chico, CA, and New Glarus, WI, are must-see capitals on the U.S. brewing map, but getting between the two is no simple feat. There and Back is named for the planes, trains, and zeal needed to connect them. This classic English-style Bitter is a complex yet easy-drinking mix of toasty malt and a fruity, herbal hop flavor."40 IBU

Appearance – The beer pours an orange-amber color with a thick one finger white head that has fantastic retention. The head slowly fades over a long time to leave a light level of foamy lace on the sides of the glass.

Smell – The nose of the beer is sweet and malty with tons of caramel and toffee sweetness as well as a good deal of a grainy and toasted bready malt smell. Along with these aromas comes some smells of a sweeter fruitiness as well as a bit of an earthy and piney hop smell.

Taste – The taste begins much drier then I would have anticipated from the smell with a toasted malt flavor along with just a bit of a more caramel sweet taste. The bit of sweetness that is present upfront fades as the taste advances with just a hint of a lighter butterscotch flavor taking its place. Joining the toasted malt flavor are some flavors of grain and a bit of a hay-like malty taste. Hop flavors are largely absent upfront, but as the taste advances some flavors of an earthy and herbal hop flavor come to the tongue. Along with a little bit of nut and a very light happening of some toffee, one is left with a malty and slightly dank hopped and sweetened flavor to linger on the tongue.

Mouthfeel – The body of the beer is on the thicker and creamier side with a carbonation level that is on the lower side for a brew of only 5.6 % abv. For the style and tastes of the brew, which consist of malty and dank hops, the thicker body and lower carbonation level are rather well fitting and make for a nice mouth coating feel.

Overall – A decent bitter overall, but really nothing all that fantastic.

Pours into a nonic a clear brass color with a thinner but well sustained white head,hard to find the right adjective for the color so I came up with a light brass.herbal hops and toffee malt in the nose,the hops are bigger than the average English bitter.Hard toffee and mild caramel on the pale with a drying zesty herbal hop finish,again the hops a little bigger than the average of the style.A good quaffing bitter,could drink alot of these in a sitting.

I feel like the beer camp series isn't as bad as everyone thinks and I am somewhat of a harsh critic when it comes to my reviews.

This ESB is perfectly inline with a ESB, I am not sure what others were expecting but this is a very fine 'almost' sessionable ale. I love the fruitiness of the hops with the strong malt backbone. It's not the best beer in the world but it is fine for what it is.